Marine Artist
private
commissions
Private commissions are accepted from individuals, organisations and corporates across a variety of marine subjects.
public
commissions
Public and charitable commissions are undertaken for a range of maritime organisations and associations.
limited edition
prints
Short run, limited edition prints of original artworks are often available to purchase either framed or unframed.
New Exhibition: Mall Galleries
Widely recognised as a showcase for the best in contemporary marine art, the Royal Society of Marine Artists stages its annual exhibition at Mall Galleries this autumn 19 Sep 2024 – 28 Sep 2024.
Roger Adamson is delighted to have been invited to exhibit four pieces from his current series, Transformation.
at the threshold of old and new
Roger Adamson explores the tension between transformation and timelessness, trade and nature, acknowledging both the intrinsic liminality of seas and rivers, and the threshold where a line between old and new is being drawn.
Documenting today’s marine industry as it undergoes a shift every bit as epochal as that from sail to steam, Adamson’s lines capture and echo the myriad boundaries between old and new confronting seafarers, ships, vessels, wildlife and people around the world, now and through time.
Like the sea, permanent pen and ink is an unforgiving medium that leaves an artist nowhere to hide, demanding discipline, precision and control in order to convey its loose, vital dynamism.
Continually refining his practice Adamson seeks to master the challenge as he chronicles, juxtaposes and distils the emerging needs and the eternal truths of both ocean and unseen industry he loves.
They that go down to the sea in ships;
That do business in great waters;
These see the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep.
about Roger Adamson
Marine Artist Roger Adamson’s pen and ink works explore the tension between transformation and timelessness, trade and nature, liminality, and the threshold between old and new seeking to juxtapose and distil the emerging needs and eternal truths of the ocean and industry he loves.
His work has been commissioned by both private collectors and public institutions and he has been exhibited as part of the Royal Society of Marine Artists Annual Show at the Mall Galleries in London.
A 30 year maritime industry veteran he both founded and led major maritime technology organisations as Chairman and CEO and continues to contribute his expertise on a voluntary basis to a variety of industry charities and associations.
He works from his studio in Dover, UK with a view of the English Channel, one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, and travels extensively to sketch and capture the maritime environment, industry and its people on the brink of epochal change.
Portfolio
On the Brink
“A tavern of dropsical appearance… long settled down into a state of hale infirmity. It had outlasted many a sprucer public house, indeed the whole house impended over the water but seemed to have got into the condition of a faint-hearted diver, who has paused so long on the brink that he will never go in at all.” Charles Dickens, Our Mutual Friend
The inspiration for Dickens’ tavern in ‘Our Mutual Friend’ The Grapes at Limehouse stands at the threshold of the land and the sea. A gateway to global trade and new lands, it offered seafarers warmth, fellowship, farewell and their last drink in England for more than 400 years.
Dropping The Dog Shore
Having just dropped the ‘dog shore’ workers on the Strand Slipway at the John Crown & Sons Sunderland shipyard on 29th May 1930 anxiously watch the coaler Bovey Tracey begin to move down the ways.
For generations shipwrights had relied on the heavy dog shore to hold the ship, preventing her running away once the other shores, stays, bilge and keel blocks were removed in preparation for launch. For the shipwright every second between the dog shore being dropped and the ship entering the water safely was said to feel like an hour.
Transformation
A seaman watches the patrol forming up in the Dover Strait during World War II. Following in the proud tradition of the illustrious WWI Dover Patrol, individual warships converge in common purpose for mutual protection and defence and are transformed into something greater than the sum of their parts.
Limbo
Built in greater numbers than any other class of post-war Royal Navy surface ship, the Leander class frigate’s outstanding design offered significant scope for useful modernisation, including the addition of the LIMBO anti-submarine weapons system.
Out of the water undergoing refit at Devonport Dockyard in the mid-1980’s F39 HMS Naiad is herself in limbo, mid-transformation, her LIMBO system now fitted forward of the bridge. She was sunk during a weapons testing trial on 28th September 1990 off Portsmouth having steamed 337,407 miles.
RMS Titanic – Sea Trials
Commission Sketch
The legendary RMS Titanic of the White Star Line, sunk during her maiden voyage in 1912 is captured undergoing her sea trials on Belfast Lough in the morning light of 7th April 1911. Standing sentinel are the tugs Herculanean, Huskisson and Hornby, with Carrickfergus background.
Sketch for part of a series of four original pen and ink drawings detailing Titanic’s build, launch, sea trials and maiden voyage commissioned by a private collector in the United States of America.
Twilight
A general cargo ship captured at the Pool of London. The twilight is liminal: it could be a misty dawn or smoggy dusk; she may be discharging or loading ready to depart. It may be the heyday of the Pool of London at the turn of the 20th century, or equally one of the last ships to anchor so far up the river Thames.